- Amanda Simpson
Amanda Simpson has become the first transgender woman to receive a presidential appointment. She will be the Senior Technical Adviser to the Commerce Department in the Bureau of Industry and Security.
She has degrees in physics, engineering and business and is a certified flight instructor. A former test pilot, she has worked in the aerospace and defense industry for 30 years. Most recently she has been at Raytheon as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development for Raytheon and transitioned while in that position.
In 2005, she ran for the Arizona House of Representatives but was not elected but was the first transgender person to win a political primary. She was a Clinton delegate to the 2008 Democratic convention.
It seems it must take the most open minded president in the us history to nominate a transgender woman… Sad.
Are you frickin kidding me?!? Am I closed minded because that DOOD was born with junk… had it chopped off and and is now masquerading around in womens underwear? I would personally laugh that person right out of a job interview.
But Simpson, with three advanced degrees and 30 years experience, would be more likely to be the one doing the job interview.
Only if we couldn’t find a qualified person that didn’t mutilate their body. You realize Amanda _must_ have huge internal conflict and terrible self esteem (whether HE masks it behind a smile or not). Apparently we don’t do psychological evaluations for this position.
Amanda is not only screwed up in the head… but every thing Amanda does is affected by the lifestyle HE chose. It’s a huge distraction for HIM and the people he works with. I wish the best for Amanda in dealing with his struggles… in the meantime… I don’t support Obama’s decision.
Wow. You know all that about her? Funny, the President or Commerce Secretary didn’t get that when they interviewed her. Neither did her employer, defense contractor Raytheon, when they recommended her. Nor her coworkers.
But of course, you’re just provoking, hoping to get some of our transgender readers angry. Don’t worry. You’re not. You’re just proving that you’re an ignorant, bigoted shmuck.
Ah… name calling. Who is provoking?
HAHA… I’m calling out transgenders?!? I happened across this article via Google… I have no idea who reads dallasvoice.com, nor do I have any desire to draw out transgenders. I was shocked when I heard this news and voiced my opinion. I’m pretty sure that’s the reason for this comment form.
In my years of being on this Earth, I’ve learned some of the same life lessons all of us do. One of which… if it looks like a goose… acts like a goose… but was born with “junk”… it’s a gander. Anyone who spends the 10s of thousands of dollars to change their biology (not just cosmetic… becoming transgender is different animal). I’m not transgender myself, so I can only base my beliefs on things I’ve heard and/or read. I can recall a segment on 60 Minutes (might have been another program, but similar format) about a transgender individual. This person spent their entire life… on a daily basis… struggling with this identity problem. I have no reason to believe that Amanda is any different. Being educated doesn’t mean someone is well adjusted… and having your junk cut off is a greater indicator of more than one screw being loose.
Interesting that you’re looking for articles on transgenders. Sorry that you learned somewhere along the line that it’s okay to hate groups of people. I know, you don’t hate them. Funny, though, how you have to explain that you’re not transgender yourself.
To prove they’re not gay, many closeted people bully other gays. My favorites are the ministers who preach hate and then end up getting caught having sex with a man. I’m wondering from some of our transgender readers, do you find that to be true among transgenders? Did you hide who you were by making anti-transgender comments? Do you know others who did that? Or is that something that’s more usual among self-hating gays like our buddy “Say What” who’s commenting so eloquently here?
you guys are fools if you acknowledge “say what?”. Ignore it and it will crawl away.
AA, of course you’re right. I guess I answered because I didn’t want any of my transgender friends to feel they had to. Sort of the same way my non-Jewish friends help keep my blood pressure down by answering stupid anti-Semitic comments for me. I almost didn’t post his trash, but decided it’s better to see the hate in plain sight rather than expect it will just go away.
LOL! You are thick, my friend. My point was… I don’t have first hand experience of the struggles that a transgender endures (internal and external). I was pointing out that I’m not an expert and prefaced my opinion with how it was formed. It’s commonly referred to as a “humble opinion”.
Commenting that bodily mutilation is a sign of psychological problems makes me a closet homosexual? Perhaps “thick” was too nice of a word for you. Take some time to COMPREHEND, please. 🙂
I guess all of the politicians before the glorious Barack Obama were all closet homosexuals too. Or maybe it was the universities that denied transgender applicants the ability to attain advanced degrees?
Well, I have to respond here. I AM Transexual, I also have a few advanced degrees; the latest being my PhD in Psychology and Psychotherapy. I work as a councelor to adults and youths that deal with gender identity issues. My advice to all, and especially this “Say What” fellow, is to get educated BEFORE you open your mouth with an unsubstantiated opinion about a group that you obviously know so very little about. Lets all step back and see what Amanda does or doesn’t accomplish in office before we pass judgement. From the past work she has done, that I personally am aware of and benefiting from, I see great things to come in her new appointment.
I find it funny that transexuals try to live life and pretend that there psyche is stable, and normal. If you feel the need to mutilate your body to become something you’re clearly not… you’re far from normal my friend.
Chopping off your junk doesn’t make you a woman. It makes you a freak. You think a normal male in their right mind would want to poke a meat hole where someone’s junk was cut off and had a whole drilled to replace, let alone neck on an addams apple. Do you see the normal white picket fence where John walks out on the back porch, and his loving trangender wife walks out to bring him a cup of tea? That’s the american dream!
Obama isn’t open minded. He’s a fool. All the white soccer moms that thought it’d be “cool” to vote black have learned their mistake. He won’t be reelected. Putting transgenders in positions of power on any level is proof he’s an idiot.
@bashermashe Wow, funny how you did your best to worship your junk but must have flunked science class when they taught you that *ALL* fetus start as female huh?
Pitty.. guess mommy and daddy didn’t send you to school enough huh?
And ya know, there’s STUPID and then there’s IGNORANT and which are you?
STUPID – is not knowing any better and lacking facts. IGNORANT – is someone who has chosen to ignore the facts..
We’ve established that you’re one of these.. the question is just which one. I chose IGNORANT.
I laughed until I cried when I realized that this was a news site for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgenders. I had no idea when I made my earlier comments. It is clear now that the other respondents (aside from the bashermasher troll) are sensitive to the topic.
However, Rick. You’re an idiot. You just used the wrong definition of a word to insult someone. Ignorant means you have a “lack of knowledge”. It has nothing to do whether the knowledge as given to you and you chose to ignore it.
However, if we ignore your abuse of the English language and comment directly on the intended message… I fail to see where masherbasher (again… name indicates he is a troll) worshiped his junk. Also, you appear to have also missed that class on human reproduction. Gender is determined at conception. A “fetus” is not developed until ~ 2 months into the process. The fertilized egg doesn’t have a penis or a vagina. Nor does a fetus shed its penis.
While some people obviously have a different opinion, all of the exposure I’ve had (admittedly, not a lot) has pointed to transgender people dealing with heavy internal and external conflict. So much, that it affects every day of their life. I, for one, don’t want that to be a distraction for people holding an important role in the safety of me and my family.
Speaking of “…safety for you and your family..” maybe you should go out to http://www.AEGIS.com and pass all this on to Sister Mary Elizabeth who has built the largest AIDS/HIV library in the world. And who was born a man, decorated as a Navy Seal with honors, then re-enlisted again as a woman to protect the safety of your pathetic ass.
Not to mention the 3.5 million online documents you can search in less than 10 seconds that me and my lover helped her build which is used by the pentagon each morning.
HOW’S THAT FOR SAFETY FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HUH??
Oh, and be sure to pass this on to Elton John also since he’s one of the many groups that helps to fun the project each year.
So tell us all “Say What”, how much have you donated to AEGIS (The AIDS Education Global Information Service) to protect the safety of you and your family from future catastrophe huh? Nothing? Not Much? Pitty…..
Yup.. You’re right… I’M AN IDIOT.. But I’m an activist and a very compassionate man who has made the existence of your life easier. Now when you’re ready to sit your hyper-critical ass down and write 15,000 lines of server code for the goodness of others let me know and I can call you an IDIOT also..
Happy Easter and don’t choke on your dinner.
P.S. When you see Mary, tell her I send hugs and Easter wishes for all her hard work.
Wow… Just wow….
I wrote 4 paragraphs. You responded to 6 words. And your response is filled with hatred and blinding arrogance. Even so much to insinuate you wanted me to die on Easter. All of this because I have a different (read: mainstream) view? I haven’t condemned transgenders to death in front of their families. I said that I think there are plenty of other qualified individuals that don’t bring baggage into the Commerce department.
I have no clue what you’re talking about with regard to your 3.5 million documents. I fail to see any relevance. I’m a software engineer that owns a not-for-profit. My NFP might not be as noble as the one for which you’ve done work, but keep in mind that _your_ fight isn’t the _only_ fight.
I don’t know Sister Mary Elizabeth… just like you don’t know the hundreds of thousands of other people in this world who may have acted selfless (re: AIDS efforts). A quick google search says Michael Clark was in the Navy… not highly decorated… not in the Seals. You don’t have to make up credentials to make him important. His efforts with HIV/AIDS are enough.
This news article was about Obama naming a transgender person to Commerce. It’s not about you… it’s not about AIDS… it’s not even about gay people.